Lerm: Hello Barc. How did you first get into art?
Barc: It's a tale for the ages. I think I always drew as a kid- If I were to be honest- from cartoons, I loved cartoons always. I would draw characters and draw my favorite cartoons.
In elementary school, I remember having this thought: “I'm not going to be an artist because artists only get money when they die, like DaVinci.” I always liked art, but didn't think I could make a living out of it.
L: But you are doing it! Yeah, my guess was that it would be cartoons. It's kind of the same for me, because I remember drawing SpongeBob. Just drawing whatever cartoons I liked.
B: Yeah. You never really think about it either as a kid. I don't think I was even doing comics or anything, I would just do illustrations and drawings.
I think I also got serious after I took mushrooms. That's it. That's when I really got into art, because I just didn't have any other way to make money. So I thought, “Let’s just do art.”
L: That was the realization you had?
B: Yeah, because in my junior year of high school, I was like, “Oh fuck, what am I gonna do with my life?” And my best skill was art. So that led me into Graphic Design, and eventually here.
L: So who is Barc the Dog?
B: Wow, okay. Barc the Dog is me, and I am Barc.
Barc is a being that is infinite. People don't even know if Barc is a dog, he has just existed through time. Existed through all the time and through cultures and generations. He never dies and exists in alternate dimensions. He's been cloned.
L: Wow.
B: Yeah. When I first started drawing Barc, it was because of a friend's dog named Rocky - a blue-nosed pitbull.
I always wanted a dog and so I drew that dog. Barc doesn't look anything like that dog, I just drew a dog that was inspired by that dog. Barc was my imaginary dog before I got Barf [his real pet dog].
L: Yeah, I remember before you had a real dog.
B: I know, right? What a loser that guy was.
L: How is Barf?
B: He’s good, he’s sleeping. Last night when we were in bed, he was just staring at himself in the mirror. For like a good two minutes.
L: I wonder what he was thinking.
B: I don't know, man. It was creepy as fuck. I felt like he was possessed. It was sinister. I thought he was communicating with the mirror world.
L: Do you think he can do that? Is he that smart?
B: He’s not that smart, but maybe the mirror world opens itself up to animals.
L: Yeah, it definitely could be. So what if the dog that's here now is from the mirror world?
B: Yeah, that’s what I’m saying! He got possessed by the mirror spirit and now he’s in our world.
L: And he brought a bunch of pestilence and plague.
B: Now we're in the alternate dimension where Coronavirus exists and Trump is president and everything.
L: We may be in the mirror world. Okay, so that’s who Barc is. Barc is you, and the universe, and your friend’s dog.
B: Yes, my spirit animal, all that.
L: What is the Barc mindset?
B: I think it's still forming, it's always growing and evolving. But at this point, what comes to mind is just to create whatever you want to create at any cost. WHABAM!
L: That’s nice and open-ended. What is The Crab Conspiracy and how did it come to be?
B: The Crab Conspiracy is very interesting. When I started it, versus what it is now is not completely different, but different in a better way. It started when Dan [Ghostshrimp] came to New York, and we went to the Adventure Time screening at the Superchief Gallery.
L: Oh yeah, on 4/20.
B: Yeah, exactly. We got super stoned, and then he was like, “Dude. Barc is crab backwards.” And I was like [mind blown noise]. It totally blew my mind because I don't even know that either.
L: Pretty powerful.
B: Yeah. Pretty awesome that it was born in a really fun time. And shortly after that, I went to camp [The Ghostshrimp National Forest] and we had a mushroom trip. I had started putting the pieces together, like “Who is Crab? What is Crab?”
But we did that mushroom trip, I figured out “the birth of Crab,” which is an animation I want to do in the future. I’m kind of veering off...
The Crab Conspiracy is basically a creative community, much like the Ghost Scouts. I like to think of it as a faction of the Ghost Scouts, actually. Especially because Dan inspired it. And, you know, creative community is so powerful for us. I don't know how it was going to turn out, but it is really nice. It’s nice to have another [creative community]. Because in a way, I feel like Ghost Scouts is a little bit played out. [laughing.]
L: That’s spicy.
B: But the digital side of it, you know.
L: Yeah, it [the Secret Society of Ghostscouts] is less online.
B: I think it's not a digital thing, its true power is in gathering at camp.
Whereas, you know, I am trying to hone in on [utilizing] this digital platform to create the Crab Conspiracy, which is this interactive world where all the members are a part of this growing story. All the things that they contribute change the path and grow the Crab Conspiracy. Like, you always send me pictures [of crabs] and things you see in real life, and these are all elements that I weave into the lore. It's a growing organic story. I also try to give educational information about art, and create “quests” where people can do assignments and just fun little things.
Sometimes I feel bad because I'm not paying people to do this work. That's why whenever I produce things for the quests, I don't sell them to you guys. It's just the cost of production so we can have something cool that we made together. I'm not making money off of that. You guys are supporting me by signing up for the Patreon. But yeah, I love doing that [compiling the artwork created by Crab Con members from the quests]. The group projects have been really cool so far and really fun.
L: Yeah, it's a big collaboration. It's definitely not for anyone’s monetary gain.
B: Yeah. [Laughing] Like I feel dirty already. Because you guys are like giving me content for free and as an artist you want people to be compensated. But that's why I don’t want to make money off of the Crab Con projects you guys produce. They just become collectables for us, which I like.
L: It's cool, it's an artifact of the experience. And you're orchestrating it all.
B: Right. Yeah. And then at the end, with all these quests, I want to make a Crab Con Anthology - like a giant thick book of everybody's work, and everybody's gonna have a section with all their work. So that's really cool. I'm excited for that. And it's interesting because it really allows me to look into the future and play the long game. Because a lot of times as an artist, you're like making things, and you get this quick satisfaction of finishing stuff. You do a lot of little projects all the time and it gives you like, “Oh, yes, yes, yes.” Like that dopamine to finish projects quickly. And this is that other approach. I'm not going to say it's more difficult, but it's interesting to think in a different way. The long game.
L: Well, it’s each little piece of it accumulating to make something bigger. Because there are so many different people involved, it becomes bigger than anything any one of the people could have made on their own.
B: Right, exactly, and even me. What I take upon myself is to string everything together. Everybody is contributing things, kind of throwing into this soup.
L: Crab soup.
B: Yes. Crab bisque.
L: That's awesome. It's interesting to see it evolving. And it's cool because although it definitely exists, in a way, because of the Ghost Scouts, because of all the relationships that came from that - it's also reaching out to totally new people.
B: Yeah, exactly. Like, I went to California, I met a couple new people [members of the Crab Con] and we're mixing Ghost scouts with other people who are just discovering Dan.
L: And some people who never heard of it [Ghost Scouts] too.
B: Yeah. I was messaging someone like, “Thanks for joining the Crab Conspiracy,” and they were asking what it’s about. I was like, “Have you heard of Ghost Scouts?” and he said he had never heard of it.
L: It’s a whole new world of people!
B: It's cool. I talked to Dan about it today, and he was saying that he imagined the Ghost Scouts would ultimately have different factions and stuff.
L: Mm hmm. Expanding the creative universe. So where do you see the Crab Conspiracy headed?
B: I'm thinking about it in a year’s span right now. There are quests, and then there are sub-quests. The quests are educational, for your art generally. And then the sub-quests are specific to the Crab Con story.
I have to see how this year goes, but I remember we [the Crab Con members] talked about having a group show, or a Barc show that has a Crab Con section, you know. So that we can all submit pieces and sell them, or at least display them and have a little party. That's always nice.
I don't know. I think it’s a saga that's going to continue and be a part of the Barc world. It's an expansion of the Barc world, the underworld of Barc, the Hollow Earth Crab Society. I don't know where it's going to go. I thought I knew where it was going to go when it started, but it went totally somewhere else.
It's also hard to balance it with Barc stuff, too. So I've been trying to find that balance recently. I was really strong with the Crab Con in the beginning and it's been a couple of months now, so it's still going and I am trying to do more.
L: It's going. It's living on, organically. What inspires you?
B: Oh my gosh.
L: That’s a hard hitting question. Or, what do you do to get hyped?
B: Right, right, right. Oh. Weed. Definitely weed inspires me. I had been smoking spliffs, which is tobacco and weed. And I would smoke like two a day at least. Since I stopped smoking cigarettes or tobacco in general, I've been smoking less weed. And I've found that it's not as easy to find ideas. I used to be able to just be like, “Okay. let me think of this. Got it. Right.” And now it takes me a couple more days [to think of the right ideas for art]. And I think it's a psychological thing also - that I'm thinking like, “Oh, because I'm not smoking weed I can't think of ideas as well.” It’s partly that, and partly that it actually does help me. I think it kind of unhinges your brain a little bit.
But I think what really inspires me is my environment. Like I'm always in the city walking around. I'll see like a logo or like some pipes that I love and I'll take a picture of it. My environment definitely inspires me. But you have to be looking for that.
I think right now, the Crab Con definitely inspires me. Community, you know. Since starting the Crab Con, I’ve found that it's another power. Dan uses that [leading a creative community] as a power. And then once I actually started my own community - It is a really interesting thing to use as an engine. You have to keep up with it and you have to also contribute. You know, not just through your art, but through morale and everything. Which is something I learned in Ghost Scouts. But when you're kind of orchestrating something, it's another source of fuel and inspiration for sure.
L: When you're feeding into it, it's creating new hype, yeah.
B: And I think also, you gotta follow the fun and do things that are always catching your interest naturally, you know? And then whatever is catching fire with your audience - whatever your people also respond to.
L: Hell yeah. On another note, what is your ultimate favorite comfort food?
B: Ooh. Fried chicken, salmon sushi. Not together, just either one. Yeah, I love to get a slab of salmon sashimi from the grocery store. Slice it up. [Chopping noise] That and any form of fried chicken. Love fried chicken. But I would choose sushi, I guess it is probably healthier.
L: Do you have a favorite worm?
B: I mean, because I saw that worm in the last newsletter...That frigging Beetlejuice worm is insane. And I saw it at Home Depot - a huge blow up doll, like lawn -
L: A lawn ornament?
B: Yeah, but a balloon. And the Alaskan Bullworm from SpongeBob. Yeah, do I have a favorite worm?
L: It could be a real one, a type of worm, a gummy worm, a character -
B: You know what’s funny, I was almost called Time Worm in Ghost Scouts [as a Scout Name]. I don't remember why, but yeah. It was almost Time Worm. But then I think I kind of did that thing where you’re like “Yeah! I wanna be Time Worm,” too enthusiastically. So it didn’t stick.
L: That's a good one.
B: I don't know too many worms. The only one that keeps coming to mind is earthworm.
L: The real thing?
B: Yeah. And when I was a kid, we used to do these compost bins. Do you have one of those? You should do that since you’re a worm person.
L: I know, that would be cool. I should get into that.
B: That would be a cool section of the newsletter too. And I always thought was cool because then you got to actually use it.
L: I'd like to be able to compost.
B: What's that, just like banana peels and random garbage?
L: Any organic material, like food scraps and coffee grounds.
B: Right. Yeah I think I have to go with earthworms.
L: The classic. Yeah.
B: It’s interesting because there are more worms out there than you know.
L: Yeah! I've been doing some research on it. Okay, now imagine yourself in the future. What advice do you think you in the future would give you right now?
B: My future self to me now? Oh, shit. Well, that means you're just thinking about what's wrong with your life right now, right?
L: What do you think you'll have learned in the future?
B: So the way I'm going to think about this is: in the future I've gotten all the things that I've ever wanted in life. I've already gotten there and I'm getting my past self hacks, because somehow I'm communicating with my past self.
L: Yeah.
B: Oh, definitely. Like, bet on this. Bet on stocks. Bet on the Nets. Kyrie Irving is going to blah blah blah. UFC fights..that's what comes to mind first. But seriously, let me think.
I guess I'd hope that my future self would tell me “You’re doing everything right. Just keep going.”
L: Well, you're in the future now, compared to when I first asked the question.
B: Shit. Oh, shit that’s dope. Timeworn magic. Message received.
L: Exactly. That's why I think that question is cool. Do you have any other things you want to share?
B: I think with the Coronavirus, I see the potential for serious racism. Especially for Asians, it's a little scary. At the same time, it's not something that people haven't dealt with before. Black and Hispanic people are discriminated against equally or more.
I'm at the dog park and I hear people saying little [racist] things, and I have to really fight myself to not get angry. I try to overcome that and become the guy that can explain [why that’s wrong], you know, and not get into my aggressive side. I try not to perpetuate their feelings, their negative thoughts towards us [Asians]. Because my initial reaction is to get mad and to fight, and I have to really overcome that and just bring knowledge, you know, instead of aggression. It's hard. Because I'm like a fucking crazy guy.
L: Well, that's not a crazy response to people being racist.
B: Exactly. But it's hard to do that. It's hard to ignore ignorance and be better, so that people can be better. So that's it.
L: Don't be racist. Bring knowledge.
B: Yeah.
L: Thank you so much! Good interview. Good job.
B: Thank you! It was fun.
Check out Barc’s website for more, as well as The Crab Conspiracy on Patreon!